Episode 71
Thwack!
The cane of Mr. Butler’s, which Sasha had lifted and brought down with all her might, missed him by a hair and struck the floor. The sturdy mahogany cane did not snap or splinter at the tip; instead, it sent the shock of the impact straight back into Sasha, who held it.
Just as her palm had swollen the moment she struck Jeffrey across the cheek. As if telling her to understand the weight of the action she had taken.
“……H-how…….”
Mr. Butler, who had reflexively raised both arms over his head, stared for a moment in stunned disbelief at the cane that had barely missed him.
“Why, why…….”
When Sasha raised the cane once more, he muttered in a voice more flustered than before and shrank in on himself. Sasha looked at him with a touch of incredulity. After striking her so casually, now he was reduced to this miserable state.
Mr. Butler curled his body into a ball with a rather ominous air. He seemed quite accustomed to taking a defensive posture. Covering everything from his ears to the crown of his head with both arms, he muttered, as if he truly could not understand, “Why, me…….”
As if he truly could not understand.
“Move.”
Unconcerned with his panic, Sasha spoke coldly, like an order. When he did not move, she shoved one of his shoulders without hesitation as he sat collapsed on the floor. As if he found Sasha’s hand touching him utterly repulsive, Mr. Butler quickly shifted aside.
The maid who had been lying on the floor had already half raised herself and was watching the scene in bewilderment. After staring at the strange sight of Mr. Butler burying his head between his knees and muttering, “Why, why me……,” she turned her head toward Sasha, who was holding out a hand to her.
There was no word telling her to take it. Yet the maid naturally took the hand her mistress offered and stood.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
Contrary to her confident answer, the maid limped on one leg. The moment Sasha saw it, she bent down and slipped herself under the maid’s arm. Then, as if supporting her, she draped one of the maid’s arms over her shoulder and wrapped her other hand around the maid’s waist to hold her up.
“Th-that gentleman is…….”
“Leave him.”
The cane was still in Sasha’s hand. The maid looked at the young mistress’s hand gripping the cane, trembling faintly.
When the maid carefully asked for the cane, Sasha shook her head. As if she understood the maid’s intention, she answered, “No need.” I won’t let you take all the blame alone.
Sasha turned around, still supporting the maid. And before they had taken more than a few steps, she heard her own name from within that hazy darkness. “Miss Grayson?”
Step, step—footfalls sounded from the passage filled with nothing but darkness. He appeared before Sasha and the maid. Beneath the dim light inside, the man’s face finally came into view. Sasha blankly looked up at Isaac’s face as he stared at her, his expression rigid.
“Are you all right?”
Isaac asked. His face was remarkably calm.
Strangely still.
“……Yes.”
Isaac’s blue eyes quickly swept over Sasha and the maid. Sasha noticed that his gaze lingered on her cheek. She had been struck hard enough for the flesh inside her mouth to split, so naturally her cheek had swollen as well.
“How did you know to come in here?”
“Something seemed strange by the flowerpot.”
“The flowerpot?”
“Yes.”
Mr. Butler, who had been muttering to himself while curled up, turned his head toward the sound of their conversation. The moment he did, the huge man’s gaze flew to him and fixed on him like a blade.
After answering Sasha’s question simply, Isaac immediately approached Mr. Butler. Then, without hesitation, he seized the back of his neck, forced him face down, and twisted one arm behind his back.
＊＊＊
By the time Constable Will arrived at Dilton Manor, everything was already over. The mistress of the manor, who had supposedly disappeared, greeted him with a terribly exhausted face, and the guest who had supposedly disappeared with her was lying face down on the floor, bound a little excessively.
When the constable tried to touch him, Isaac said to him, “Leave him as he is. He is not in his right mind.” The constable turned his head toward the voice. A large man stood there, looking anything but ordinary at a glance. As soon as the constable’s sharp eyes swept over him, he guessed his status to some extent.
“Are you a soldier?”
“I am.”
As if accustomed to it, Isaac took an identification card from his breast and showed it to him. Pinscher. Captain. 4th Infantry Regiment.
Seeing the medal mark set at the edge of his identification, Constable Will narrowed his brows. It was a medal bestowed by none other than the royal family.
Far from awe, a trace of irritation, as if he found it rather bothersome, passed over Constable Will’s face. In his mind, if the man was a soldier, then all the more reason he should not interfere with their work. But when the constable approached the bound man and heard him muttering incomprehensible nonsense with a deranged expression, he took a step back.
“I need to speak with the mistress of this place.”
“The mistress is inside. She is still resting, however.”
When the constable asked for Sasha, the young butler, who had been sorting out the confusion in the manor, appeared and spoke. He had an impression that seemed somewhat naive, but he was a young man with fairly intelligent eyes. The constable naturally followed behind the butler toward the place where their mistress was said to be resting.
And then, briefly, he cast a glance behind him. Captain Pinscher was standing over the man he had tied up as if guarding a prisoner.
“What is the relationship between that man and the mistress of this place?”
“……They are close. You need not worry.”
The butler replied evasively, his face looking a little more stubborn than before. The constable sighed as if he was used to this.
“You may answer me honestly.”
“……Please ask her directly. She is inside.”
The constable nodded as if he had expected as much. And he prayed that the young mistress of this place, who had supposedly suffered such an ordeal, would not be sitting there sobbing.
When the butler opened the door, the woman sitting on the sofa raised her head and looked straight at them. At her attitude, which seemed calmer than he had expected, the constable sighed as if relieved, and quickly withdrew his gaze from her face when he saw her swollen cheek, all the more conspicuous in the light.
“Miss Grayson, you must have been badly frightened. Are you all right?”
Sasha nodded as if she had been waiting.
“Yes. I’m all right. Would you like to sit?”
＊＊＊
While Sasha calmly explained the sudden incident to the constable, the servants had already begun to assist the police, who had started their search, as appropriate. In the meantime, Isaac still stood near Mr. Butler as if guarding him. To keep him from spouting nonsense to the people nearby.
“How is Maud?”
“A doctor is already on the way at the young lady’s instruction. She’s been moved to the medical wing.”
The voices of the maids standing nearby drove into his ears as if piercing them.
“What about the young lady?”
“She said she would deal with the police first. I hurriedly brought her an ice pack, at least.”
“What on earth is going on? Lily, did you know there was a place like that over there? You’ve worked here the longest after Mr. Allison.”
The maid named Lily shook her head firmly.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen it. Mr. Jason might have known.”
“I’m not sure. Mr. Jason didn’t seem to know either. When I saw him earlier, he looked utterly dumbfounded.”
The maids’ conversation cut off when a door opened across the way and the constable appeared again. With a face more certain than before, and somehow tinged with a strange sense of disgust, the constable walked toward Isaac. He greeted Isaac with a brief dip of his chin, and Isaac returned the greeting.
“We will take this man into our custody for now.”
Without a word of complaint, Isaac stepped aside.
When the police approached and tried to put their hands on him, Mr. Butler struggled violently and screamed at a pitch that was almost nothing but noise. In the end, the police had no choice but to lift him bodily.
After giving Isaac only a wordless glance, the constable followed them. Only then did Isaac move, turning toward the other side.
It was the room where Sasha was.
When he knocked, a voice from inside said, “Come in.” Isaac carefully opened the door and stepped in. Sasha, sitting on the sofa, looked up at him with an ice pack pressed to her cheek. For a while, they stared at each other without a word.
“Are you all right?”
“I think this is the sixth time I’ve heard that question.”
Sasha answered his repeated question calmly. Then she nodded as if to say she was fine.
But Isaac could tell that her mood had sunk even lower than before. Familiar with how to avoid provoking her as much as possible, he moved quietly. Then, after hesitating, he sat down a little away from her side.
“He asked his questions after deciding, as if it were only natural, that this was a lovers’ quarrel.”
“The police?”
Sasha nodded. With a face that looked complicated in many ways, she shifted the ice pack against her cheek.
“It was good that I didn’t hand the cane over to the maid. If I had let that child finish it, she truly would have had no choice but to take all the blame.”
“…….”
“That child was only trying to protect me. Does it make sense that she could be faulted just because that bastard is a noble? I will never stand by and watch that happen. They said that son of a bitch might try to latch onto that. First, we have to gather all the evidence. The letters, of course, and all the discarded flowers too—we may have to find every single one of them…….”
“……Miss Grayson.”
“You can be a witness, can’t you, Captain Pinscher? The situation is already clear, but they said it’s still better than having nothing. Because the other side could insist on some absurd reason. Perhaps in the process, we…….”
“Sasha.”
Sasha’s frantic muttering came to a stop. She met Isaac’s blue eyes as he leaned toward her and looked into her face.
And only belatedly did she realize that he had called her by name. “Sasha.”
Isaac realized it belatedly as well.
But instead of becoming flustered, he carefully placed a hand on her shoulder with a calm expression. It was a quiet sign of support. When she showed no sign of discomfort, he gently took hold of her shoulder and made her look at him.
His figure filled her green eyes, which had been sharpened to the utmost.
Soon, the line of her mouth crumpled as if collapsing.